Markdown the date. Tuesday, April 21, 2009, is the moment that any chanceof a new era of bipartisan respect in Washington ended. By inviting theprosecution of Bush officials for their antiterror legal advice,President Obama has injected a poison into our politics that he and thecountry will live to regret.AFP/Getty Images

Policy disputes,often bitter, are the stuff of democratic politics. Elections settlethose battles, at least for a time, and Mr. Obama's victory in Novemberhas given him the right to change policies on interrogations,Guantanamo, or anything on which he can muster enough support. But atleast until now, the U.S. political system has avoided the spectacle ofa new Administration prosecuting its predecessor for policydisagreements. This is what happens in Argentina, Malaysia or Peru,countries where the law is treated merely as an extension of politicalpower.If this analogy seems excessive, consider how Mr. Obama has framedthe issue. He has absolved CIA operatives of any legal jeopardy, nodoubt because his intelligence advisers told him how damaging thatwould be to CIA morale when Mr. Obama needs the agency to protect thecountry. But he has pointedly invited investigations against Republicanlegal advisers who offered their best advice at the request of CIAofficials."Your intelligence indicates that there is currently a level of'chatter' equal to that which preceded the September 11 attacks," wroteAssistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, in his August 1, 2002 memo. "Inlight of the information you believe [detainee Abu] Zubaydah has andthe high level of threat you believe now exists, you wish to move theinterrogations into what you have described as an 'increased pressurephase.'"So the CIA requests a legal review at a moment of heightened danger,the Justice Department obliges with an exceedingly detailed analysis ofthe law and interrogation practices -- and, seven years later, Mr.Obama says only the legal advisers who are no longer in governmentshould be investigated. The political convenience of this distinction for Mr. Obamabetrays its basic injustice. And by the way, everyone agrees thatsenior officials, including President Bush, approved theseinterrogations. Is this President going to put his predecessor in thedock too?Mr. Obama seemed to understand the peril of such an exercise when hesaid, before his inauguration, that he wanted to "look forward" andbeyond the antiterror debates of the Bush years. As recently as Sunday,Rahm Emanuel said no prosecutions were contemplated and now is not atime for "anger and retribution." Two days later the Presidentdisavowed his own chief of staff. Yet nothing had changed except thatMr. Obama's decision last week to release the interrogation memosunleashed a revenge lust on the political left that he refuses toresist.Just as with the AIG bonuses, he is trying to co-opt his left-wingbase by playing to it -- only to encourage it more. Within hours of Mr.Obama's Tuesday comments, Senator Carl Levin piled on with his ownaccusatory Intelligence Committee report. The demands for a "specialcounsel" at Justice and a Congressional show trial are louder thanever, and both Europe's left and the U.N. are signaling their desire tofile their own charges against former U.S. officials.Those officials won't be the only ones who suffer if all of thisgoes forward. Congress will face questions about what the Members knewand when, especially Nancy Pelosi when she was on the HouseIntelligence Committee in 2002. The Speaker now says she remembershearing about waterboarding, though not that it would actually be used.Does anyone believe that? Porter Goss, her GOP counterpart at the time,says he knew exactly what he was hearing and that, if anything, Ms.Pelosi worried the CIA wasn't doing enough to stop another attack. Byall means, put her under oath.Mr. Obama may think he can soar above all of this, but he'll soonlearn otherwise. The Beltway's political energy will focus more on thespectacle of revenge, and less on his agenda. The CIA will have itsreputation smeared, and its agents second-guessing themselves. And ifthere is another terror attack against Americans, Mr. Obama will haveset himself up for the argument that his campaign against the Bushpolicies is partly to blame.Above all, the exercise will only embitter Republicans, includingthe moderates and national-security hawks Mr. Obama may need in thenext four years. As patriotic officials who acted in good faith areindicted, smeared, impeached from judgeships or stripped of theiracademic tenure, the partisan anger and backlash will grow. Andspeaking of which, when will the GOP Members of Congress begin todenounce this partisan scapegoating? Senior Republicans like MitchMcConnell, Richard Lugar, John McCain, Orrin Hatch, Pat Roberts andArlen Specter have hardly been profiles in courage.Mr. Obama is more popular than his policies, due in part to hispersonal charm and his seeming goodwill. By indulging his party'sdesire to criminalize policy advice, he has unleashed furies that willhaunt his Presidency.